Software engineering's contribution to earthquake engineering

Earthquakes are natural disasters regularly affecting Mexico. It is very important that all information about them is quickly obtained to speed up attention being provided for the affected population and, if possible, applying preventative action. Computer and specialised software are currently used for obtaining essential knowledge concerning seismic events. 22 software applications for seismic analysis have been examined in this study to define predominant characteristics, strengths and limitations, to determine the current status of this particular field and suggest lines for the advance for new developments or prototypes. This country's existing technological dependency is clearly shown (hardware and software). Academic cooperation between different branches of engineering should thus be encouraged for creating new domestic products. Key words: seismic analysis software, seismic engineering, software engineering. Mexico es un pais generalmente afectado por terremotos. Es muy importante que toda la informacion acerca de este tipo de desastres naturales sea obtenida rapidamente para acelerar la atencion y si es posible implementar acciones preventivas. A traves de programas computacionales especializados se reunen datos esenciales sobre eventos sismicos. En total, en este estudio se examinaron 22 aplicaciones de software para analisis sismicos que permiten definir las caracteristicas predominantes, sus fortalezas y limitaciones, al tiempo que se determina el estado actual del campo y se sugieren lineas de avance para nuevos desarrollos o prototipos. Ademas, se expone la dependencia del pais en materia tecnologica (software y hardware). La cooperacion academica entre diferentes ramas de la ingenieria podria entonces motivar la creacion de nuevos productos domesticos. Palabras clave: Software de analisis sisimico, ingenieria sisimica, ingenieria de software